Change in Our Health Plans… We Won’t Forget

Matt Margolis9 Comments

“If you like your plan, you can keep it,” Obama said, oh, so many times. You know, it never ceases to amaze me how someone so deceitful can get away with it so many time, and yet so many (including, I’m sure, the liberals who read this blog) just make excuses for him, as if turning a blind eye makes it any better.

So, there have been a few numbers thrown out there regarding how many people are not going to be able to keep the insurance plans they liked. One analysis (via the liberal news outlet McClatchy) suggests the number is as high as 52 million.

It seems like this is the moment where the liberal media is less able to spin the truth. Because, let’s face it, no matter what the spin, if you lose your insurance because of Obamacare, that’s a very real way Obama has not only lied to you, but also negatively impacted your life in a direct, measurable way.

A few weeks ago, my health insurance provider released their Obamacare-approved plans—Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum—and the cheapest one they have is not only $2000+/year more than my current plan, but the coverage is worse. An even higher deductible and higher out-of-pocket maximum. So, it’s not even like I lost my current plan and got something better. I lost my current plan and got royally screwed.

There are many others who are having similar experiences. So, it’s hardly a shock that Obama’s approval ratings are sliding. The reality of Obamacare just isn’t the same bundle of wonderful that was pitched to the public. Granted, many of us knew Obamacare was going to be a disaster, but we didn’t vote for Obama anyway.

I’m hopeful that those who voted for Obama, and, let’s be honest, the Democratic Party, will remember this betrayal of trust next November and again in 2016. Even though people forget a lot of things by the time they vote (see 150 Reasons Why Barack Obama is the Worst President in History for a rather thorough list of things Obama voters forgot about when they voted) but it will hard to forget the higher premiums they’ll be paying because of Obama’s crowning achievement.

Making a Deal With Iran

Mark Noonan41 Comments

It is hard to say what the real goal here is – it is clear that no matter what Iran does, while Obama is President we won’t go to war to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.  Come what may, no amount of non-military pressure on Iran will succeed in convincing the Iranian government to give up their nuclear ambitions.  Given this, why make a deal, at all?  What is it that impels Obama and Kerry to seek a deal?

By making any sort of deal, all we do is increase Iranian legitimacy in the eyes of the world, alienate Israel and lower our prestige among both friends and enemies – the world will see that, in the event, we daren’t attack Iran…that we are, in some sense, afraid of them.  The Gulf States will either make the best deal they can with Iran, while Saudi Arabia and Turkey obtain nuclear weapons of their own to counter the Iranian force.  Can it be that Obama and Kerry, ignorant academics that they are, simply believe that a deal is better than a non-deal?  That the results don’t matter so much as the process, itself?

And here’s the bad news – an Iranian nuclear force is an existential threat to the life of Israel…just how long will the Israeli government hold off from saving themselves from extermination?

Random Ramblings Open Thread

Mark Noonan27 Comments

There is nothing Obama has said about ObamaCare which is either relevant or true.  He was lying about it when he campaigned in 2008; lied about it to get it passed in 2010; lied about it, again, when he campaigned in 2012.  He’s lying about it today.  From all appearances, he’ll never stop lying about it.  This is rather astounding – he could still get 90% of what he wants if he’ll just allow some of the worst aspects of it to be lopped off and/or reformed.  But he won’t allow that – his rhetoric that he’s willing to accept suggestions from the opposition is just more lies.  Anyone with even a bit of political skill and sense could salvage ObamaCare and them move on.  More and more, I’m just convinced that Obama is stupid.

Some people are getting a bit worried about the number of senior officers in the armed forces that Obama has forced out.  Dark visions of oppression are starting to sprout.  I wouldn’t go that way, if I were you:  Obama just wants generals and admirals who will obey his liberal stupidity…some generals and admirals were unwilling, and so they got the boot.  The main thing to remember about this is that our senior military ranks are ever more populated with officers who will agree to any stupid, old thing in order to get another star on their shoulder.  Should we win in 2017, we’ll have to ensure that the new President clears out this careerist deadwood which is taking over the military.

And, yes, Obama’s military bureaucrats are harassing Christians in the military – but this is really no different than what Obama’s IRS did.  Its not part of a grand conspiracy – its just liberals being their little, fascist selves…with the added “benefit” that in the military, the troops gotta obey.  Makes it easier for asinine things to get done faster.

I’ve been having an argument with some fellow conservatives over at a different message board and I’m a bit perplexed – am I really the only conservative out there who realizes that as long as we’re tagged with defending the rich, we’re never going to win sufficient power to change things?  Remember, liberals have got us in the minds of low info voters as being the people who defend the likes of George Soros, even though Soros is a money-bags for the left.  We have to break away from that – and we can only do it in the minds of low info voters by attacking some of the rich: that species of rich (like Soros) who don’t make money by producing worthwhile goods and services, but by manipulating our corrupt, controlled financial markets.  Arguing for tax cuts and cuts in government is all well and good – but it won’t get us much support in a nation where less than half pays income taxes and more than half gets some sort of government benefit…we’ve got to show the people that a corrupt alliance of Big Government and Big Corporation is robbing us blind for the benefit of the liberal governing class and liberal financial sharks like Soros.

Anyone argue with a liberal lately?  I got in to a Twitter argument and it came out that the liberal really, honestly felt he was helping the poor by paying his taxes.  This came out when I made the Tweet:  “want to help the poor? Ok, there’s a Catholic Charities near  you”, and then provided a link for Catholic Charities USA.  The guy got a bit miffed with me – he pays his taxes and that helps the poor plenty so he doesn’t have to go and help the poor.  It is a very weird mindset – but it does explain a lot. All you have to do is pay your taxes and you’ve discharged your duty to your brothers and sisters…

Discuss whatever you wish!

Insanity, Thy Name is Harry Reid

Mark Noonan10 Comments

The stupid – it just hurts!

U.S. Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Texas, left, wants to end the practice of giving illegal immigrants tax credits for kids, but U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., won’t let the House-approved measure H.R. 556 through the Senate.

“The System is Working Fine” says Senator Harry Reid, even though the Joint Committee on Taxation calculates that enactment of H.R. 556 would save taxpayers $24.4 billion over the next decade.

Here’s the real kicker – illegal aliens can claim the $1,000.00 tax credit even if their kids aren’t in the United States.  I mean, come on!  Any illegal who doesn’t claim at least one kid back in the home country is now a certifiable idiot!  How in heck would we possibly be able to check on something like that?  But to Harry Reid, its just working fine…which, I guess, is true from Harry’s perspective…it provides yet more taxpayer money for the undocumented Democrats.
As you all know, I’ve been in favor of amnesty since 2007 – but I’ve now decided to put on hold my support for the idea until such time as Harry Reid and Barack Obama have no further say in American law.  They are just too stupid to be trusted on such an important issue…and by being so stupid, they risk us never being able to get to rational immigration reform.

Spying, What is it Good For?

Mark Noonan12 Comments

Mostly absolutely nothing.  In light of recent revelations that we have spied on the leaders of friendly foreign States, I’d like to put my two cents in:

We should never spy on anyone except when vital, national security interests of the United States or our allies are at stake.  Given this, we should never spy on any friendly nation as they never threaten our vital interests.  And we should be wary of spying on any nation unless we really have to.  We have, right now, a vital interest in spying in Syria, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, China and a few other nations – either the nations, themselves, threaten us or what is going on in them threatens to become a serious problem for the United States.  We need to know what is going on behind the scenes.  But, Germany?  What could Germany possibly be hiding from us that is a threat to our existence?   Germany is a United States ally.  If they wish to keep something secret from us, then simple decency should compel us to respect that.  Do you pry in to your friend’s affairs uninvited?  No, you don’t – because that is indecent.  Well, morality applies to States as well as individuals.

Aside from the morality of it all, spying doesn’t really work very often.  To be sure, there have been a few intelligence coups which have been put to good use – the British breaking of the German naval codes in WWII is the prime example of this.  On the other hand, there wasn’t too much use in our breaking the Japanese codes pre-WWII as we still got caught with our pants down at Pearl Harbor (to be sure, that capability was put to good use at Midway in 1942 – but, think about it, the boneheads in charge only started properly using it after we had been wiped out in the most well-advertised “surprise” attack in human history).  Knowing the enemy’s plan ahead of time can be useful – but far more useful is for you to just be prepared for all contingencies.  If you’ve reviewed the possible threats and deployed your forces properly, then it doesn’t fundamentally matter what the enemy is going to do.  One need but consider McClellan and Grant in the Civil War.  McClellan at one point pretty much had Lee’s battle plan and still couldn’t beat him…because Lee was deployed for all contingencies.  Grant didn’t have Lee’s plan and, indeed, was put in a bad position by one of Lee’s adroit battlefield gambits…but he still beat Lee because Grant was ready for all contingencies.

To me, there is something nauseating in this whole spying business.  Cloak and dagger and dirty deals to get the goods.  I’d rather we had very little to do with it – and best of all, nothing to do with it.  If we are prepared for all contingencies and have let potential enemies know in advance that we’ll destroy them as soon as they look crossways at us, that would be better than all the spies in the world…especially all the peeping-Tom sorts of spying we do with electronic surveillance. I don’t necessarily want to know what nastiness the Mullahs of Iran are planning – I just want us to have the capability of putting Iran’s leaders six feet under at need and their clear understanding that this is precisely what we’ll do, if they challenge us, anywhere.

Leave off spying.  Build the right military force and be prepared to use it against all comers in all possible circumstances – that is the path to security and peace; not routing through someone’s private telephone conversations or picking through their trash for dirt.

This Seems Obvious To All But The Mindless Drones… Rep. Joe Wilson Vindicated!

tiredoflibbs12 Comments

Richard Klein says it all…..

On September 9, 2009, Joe Wilson, Congressman from South Carolina, shouted “You lie!” when President Obama was touting the benefits of his Affordable Care Act, now dubbed “Obamacare.”  Many in America were shocked that anyone would call the President of the United States a liar in such a forum as a presidential address to a joint session of Congress.

But, now, as we look back on 5 years of Barack Obama, we see that Obama and his Administration do lie.  And they lie a lot:

  • Both Eric Holder and Barack Obama stated that “Fast and Furious was a program begun in the Bush Administration”. That was a lie. The Bush Administration had, in fact, shut down any efforts to track illegal shipments of guns to Mexico because it was a dangerous and untenable undertaking.
  • Hillary Clinton, Susan Wright and Barack Obama all stated that the attack in Benghazi was caused by Islamist spontaneous reaction to an anti-Islamist video produced in the United States. We know now – and they knew then – that the attack in Benghazi was a well planned effort by well armed Islamic extremists with connections to Al Qaeda.
  • The President assured us that “….. the IRS targeting of conservative groups like the Tea Party…” was an isolated instance of rogue IRS employees in the Cincinnati office. We now know that the senior levels of the Administration (e.g., the Treasury Department General Counsel, the Deputy Secretary of the Department of the Treasury, and the Office of the White House Counsel) were acutely aware of these plans to target these conservative groups and were worried about these
  • The President and the National Director of Intelligence reassured the American people time and time again that the phone calls and emails of Americans were not being monitored and recorded as part of our intelligence programs. We know that to be false and, further, we now know that our electronic spying is international in scope and technologically sophisticated.

These are but a few of the lies that Barack Obama and his “partners in deception” have pushed upon the American people.  Presidents and Administrations have historically concealed intelligence operations and national security concerns from the American public.  But Barack Obama knows no limits to the lying that he and his Administration concoct to deceive and misdirect Americas.

Recently, the disastrous rollout of Obamacare has provided fertile fields for more lying.

  • “If you like your current insurance plan, you can keep it. Period.”
  • “If you like your current doctor, you can keep that doctor.”
  • “Your premiums will go down an average of $2500 per year.”
  • “The cost of this national healthcare program will be less than $1 trillion.”
  • “Obamacare would not cover illegal aliens.”
  • “Obamacare would not cover abortions.”

These are not just lies.  These are damn lies that the Administration knew would be such, but still foisted them on the American public to divert attention away from the truth about Obamacare and the impact it would have upon us all.

Joe Wilson was right when he said “You lie.”

To my knowledge, the only truth that Obama has ever uttered is that “He would fundamentally change America.”

And he is doing just that with lies and deceit.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2013/10/rep_joe_wilson_vindicated.html

————————-

On other blogs, the drones are part of the “Cult of Personality”.  No matter what obAMATEUR (from now on will be called pResident obeyme) says or does, these drones will blindly follow him (lemmings at their best or worst).  Here are some examples from a former leftist blogger who posted on this blog regularly:

“I don’t know if the President lied (re. ACA) and I don’t care.”
“I don’t care if the President read the ACA or not.”
(there are many others but I don’t have the time or space to put them all)

Unbelievable!  These people redefine “the low information voter”.  And people wonder why the country is in the poor state that it is in.

Update: It seems I got the lefties panties in a bunch. They are now making shit up about this post making claims I never made and ASSuming that I am in the Tea Party for daring to show the lies coming from pResident obame (obey me). The excuses coming from these LIVs is astounding.

Lies 1, 2, and 3 are reinforced with facts and slams the lefts repeated talking points to the contrary for California’s Middle Class. Some will lose their coverage altogether.

I am sure this is nothing but a coincidence, nothing to see here.

Despite the facts to the contrary with more and more coming out each day, the drones are defending pResident obame (obey-me) or they don’t care if he lies or not, nor if what he says what is in ACA is accurate since he has not read it.  If his aides are briefing him on what is in obamacare then he is intentionally sticking to the campaign mode sound bites for it.  The people will not like the truth that is being revealed each day.

Update II: Well it is official, pResident obame lied… 

Obama admin. knew millions could not keep their health insurance
Wow, from NBC news no less……Once again proving the LIVs (plural for LIV – just like SUVs but the drones are desperate) have no clue. When the pResident says that “You can keep your insurance, period”, it does not mean some mandated minimum plan designed by some bureaucrat is a proper substitute.  It means you can keep the plan you have with no alterations, substitutions or restrictions.  Let’s see the spin these morons will try next.

As predicted the poor excuse-making continues. The LIVs, the Cult of Personality, have again made statements that obame did not lie.  They say the fault lies with the insurance companies for changing their policies.  As usual, they cherry-pick the facts and completely ignore that the ACA MANDATES these changes.  Obame and the Democrats had full knowledge of these changes and still tout the lie  “If you like your current insurance plan, you can keep it. Period.”

From the NBC article:
“Four sources deeply involved in the Affordable Care Act tell NBC NEWS that 50 to 75 percent of the 14 million consumers who buy their insurance individually can expect to receive a “cancellation” letter or the equivalent over the next year because their existing policies don’t meet the standards mandated by the new health care law.”

Once again proving that the drones are willfully ignorant (useful idiots) and are among the millions of LIVs that voted for the personality in the White House.

Update III: It is pure comedy to see the left, their fellow looters and the unthinking lemmings stumble all over themselves to cover and make excuses for pResident obame’s LIES on the ACA:

  • “If you like your current insurance plan, you can keep it. Period.”
  • “If you like your current doctor, you can keep that doctor.”
  • “Your premiums will go down an average of $2500 per year.”

Even Stenny Hoyer freely admits that the pResident and his fellow dems knew that millions would lose their coverage when the government’s MANDATED health plans went into affect.   The left is falling all over themselves to cover for the pResident, while deflecting and dodging every chance they get – forgetting what they said before and contradicting themselves in the process.  What is the LIVs supposed to do, when all they do is repeat the party line with no thought or critical thinking.

Welfare Outnumbers Full Time Workers

Mark Noonan11 Comments

They want to make beggars out of us because beggars are easier to please:

Americans who were recipients of means-tested government benefits in 2011 outnumbered year-round full-time workers, according to data released this month by the Census Bureau.

They also out-numbered the total population of the Philippines.

There were 108,592,000 people in the United States in the fourth quarter of 2011 who were recipients of one or more means-tested government benefit programs, the Census Bureau said in data released this week. Meanwhile, according to the Census Bureau, there were 101,716,000 people who worked full-time year round in 2011. That included both private-sector and government workers

Note that – the number of workers only gets up to 101.7 million because of government workers; which means when you add up total government dependency, it outnumbers self-sufficiency even more.  This is the terrible result of economic policies which reward crony capitalism and social policies which encourage dependency.  In a rational world, those who are dependent should be no more than 10% or so of the total population, not rising above 50% because – point blank – one man producing wealth cannot support one man consuming wealth.  Almost everyone should be self sufficient, or your nation is in terminal decline.

This is why I say we’ve only got a few years left – if we don’t halt and reverse this soon, America will collapse.  There will be no United States of America any longer as each section breaks free – especially among the areas with the least amount of dependency who will no longer wish to tax themselves in to penury to pay for the dependents.  It is change or die.

$1 Billion per day?

tiredoflibbs1 Comment

There is big money to be made in “Global Warming” errr… “Global Climate Change”.  If Al Gore getting rich off this scam wasn’t a big enough clue…  no wonder “consensus” is acceptable scientific “proof” when big bucks can be made.

http://www.euractiv.com/development-policy/global-climate-investment-flatli-news-531212

The lie that 90% of scientists agree that man made climate change is real has been thoroughly debunked due to their severely flawed “peer review” process…..

IPCC Admits Its Past Reports Were Junk

The InterAcademy Council (IAC) conducted an independent review of the processes and procedures of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Based on this review, the IAC issued a report with recommended measures and actions to strengthen IPCC’s processes and procedures so as to be better able to respond to future challenges and ensure the ongoing quality of its reports.IAC findings:

The IAC reported that IPCC lead authors fail to give “due consideration … to properly documented alternative views” (p. 20), fail to “provide detailed written responses to the most significant review issues identified by the Review Editors” (p. 21), and are not “consider[ing] review comments carefully and document[ing] their responses” (p. 22).

In plain English: the IPCC reports are NOT PEER-REVIEWED.

The IAC found that “the IPCC has no formal process or criteria for selecting authors” and “the selection criteria seemed arbitrary to many respondents” (p. 18). Government officials appoint scientists from their countries and “do not always nominate the best scientists from among those who volunteer, either because they do not know who these scientists are or because political considerations are given more weight than scientific qualifications” (p. 18).

Again in plain English: authors are selected from a “club” of scientists and nonscientists who agree with the alarmist perspective favored by politicians.

The rewriting of the Summary for Policy Makers by politicians and environmental activists — a problem called out by global warming realists for many years, but with little apparent notice by the media or policymakers — was plainly admitted, perhaps for the first time by an organization in the “mainstream” of alarmist climate change thinking. “[M]any were concerned that reinterpretations of the assessment’s findings, suggested in the final Plenary, might BE POLITICALLY MOTIVATED,” the IAC auditors wrote. The scientists they interviewed commonly found the Synthesis Report “TOO POLITICAL” (p. 25).

Really? Too political? We were told by everyone — environmentalists, reporters, politicians, even celebrities — that the IPCC reports were science, not politics. Now we are told that even the scientists involved in writing the reports — remember, they are all true believers in man-made global warming themselves — felt the summaries were “too political.”

Here is how the IAC described how the IPCC arrives at the “consensus of scientists”:

Plenary sessions to approve a Summary for Policy Makers last for several days and commonly end with an all-night meeting. Thus, the individuals with the most endurance or the countries that have large delegations can end up having the most influence on the report (p. 25).

How can such a process possibly be said to capture or represent the “true consensus of scientists”?

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/07/ipcc_admits_its_past_reports_were_junk.html#ixzz20mLGz6ss

As the GOD_FATHER OF GLOBAL WARMING LOVELOCK HAS ACCURATELY STATED the DOOM AND GLOOM PREDICTIONS WERE “INNACURATE” and the SCIENCE was far from “SETTLED”. It is factual that a true PEER-REVIEW of IPCC’s process found that their process was flawed, politically motivated. Forced consensus and its conclusions are complete crap.